The present invention relates to apparatus for wet processing of textile material in endless rope form and, more particularly, relates to the type of such apparatus utilizing a vessel for containing a treating bath of processing liquid, a rope storage arrangement for transiently storing in the bath a plaited accumulation of a major portion of the rope, and a rope circulating unit for progressively withdrawing the rope from the plaited accumulation thereof and returning it to the plaited accumulation under the entraining influence of a moving cycled portion of the processing liquid.
Typical textile wet processing apparatus of the above-described type are the so-called jet machines, such machines characteristically utilizing a jet nozzle in the rope circulating unit thereof to create a conveying stream of the cycled treating liquid, and usually employing a curved rope storage compartment, such as a J-box or a U-shaped chamber, for transiently storing the plaited accumulation of rope within the bath of treating liquid. Heretofore, such wet processing apparatus have been extensively and relatively successfully employed for a wide variety of wet treatment operations. However, such machines have presented problems in the wet processing of surface sensitive textile fabrics such as fabrics formed of relatively low twist spun yarns, fabrics formed of a loosely knit, stretchable constrution, and certain plush or pile fabrics. Fabrics of this type are especially susceptible to various forms of surface degradation and it is not unusual for such machines to produce fabric wrinkling, fuzziness, excessive stretching, and, in pile fabrics, disoriented pile. Conventional wisdom has generally been that deleterious results of this type are primarily attributable to the relatively high impingement action on the fabric of the jetstream of cycled treating liquid emitted by the jet nozzle of the processing machine, and some degree of attention has been directed to the modification and/or improvement of the rope circulatory systems of such machines to solve these problems; see, e.g., Turner et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,407. Although it is additionally known that, during the operation of such machines, there exists a tendency of the plaited accumulation of the rope material being treated to become excessively compacted at the lowermost point of the rope storage compartment, sometime to a sufficient extent to inhibit rope movement through the storage compartment, little effort has been directed to the alleviation of this problem, and conventional rope storage compartments have remained substantially unchanged since the advent of jet-type processing apparatus.
It is believed that, to a significant degree, this compaction of the plaited rope accumulation is a contributing factor in causing many of the above-described problems presently being encountered in the wet processing of surface sensitive fabrics because of the excessive fabric-to-fabric friction in the compacted rope. Additionally, undue compaction of the plaited fabric in the storage compartment can result in the cloth becoming jammed to the extent that it will not move, so that operator assistance is required to clear the storage chamber.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved rope storage arrangement for textile wet processing apparatus of the above-described type and an improved method of wet processing textile materials in rope form which will substantially eliminate compaction of the plaited rope accumulation in the storage arrangement. It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide a rope storage arrangement which offers less friction for the moving cloth and which will utilize the gravitational forces of the processing liquid acting on the plaited rope accumulation to assist in the movement of the plaited rope through the storage arrangement. The present invention also provides, in combination with this rope storage arrangement, a rope circulatory system particularly designed to assist the aforesaid rope storage compartment in reducing the deleterious effect on the rope of the moving cycled portion of processing liquid in which the rope is entrained and the friction imposed on the moving rope.